Dweck, Carol S
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
2018 Brock International Prize in Education Nominee Carol S. Dweck Nominated by Casey Cobb Brock Nominee: Carol S. Dweck Lewis and Virginia Eaton Professor of Psychology Professor of Education (by Courtesy) Stanford University Table of Contents Introduction to Carol Dweck ................................................................................................... 3 Her groundbreaking book, Mindset. ....................................................................................... 4 Praise for Mindset .................................................................................................................. 5 SUMMARY OF CAROL DWECK’S INNOVATIVE THEORY AND APPLICATION OF A “GROWTH MINDSET” ............................................................................................................................... 6 CAROL DWECK’S RESEARCH .................................................................................................... 7 GROWTH-MINDSET INTERVENTIONS ...................................................................................... 7 SCALING GROWTH-MINDSET INTERVENTIONS ........................................................................ 8 GROWTH-MINDSET PRACTICES ............................................................................................... 9 INFLUENCE ............................................................................................................................ 12 Quotes of Support from Respected Peers ............................................................................. 13 Epilogue ................................................................................................................................ 13 2 Introduction to Carol Dweck Carol S. Dweck, Ph.D., is a leading researcher in the field of motivation and is the Lewis and Virginia Eaton Professor of Psychology at Stanford. Her research focuses on why students succeed and how to foster their success. Dr. Dweck is an expert in the area of fixed vs. growth mindset: the belief that intelligence is fixed (you either have it or you don’t) vs. the belief that intelligence can grow with nurturing and hard work. Her research shows that people who believe intelligence is fixed and people faced with stereotype threat perform more poorly than those who believe intelligence can grow or who reject the shortcomings implied by stereotypes. Her work has demonstrated the role of mindsets in success and has shown how praise for intelligence can undermine people’s motivation and learning. Dr. Dweck has held professorships at and Columbia and Harvard Universities, has lectured to education, business, and sports groups all over the world, and has been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Sciences. She recently won the Distinguished Scientific Contribution award from the American Psychological Association, the highest award in Psychology. Her work has been prominently featured in such publications as The New Yorker, Newsweek, Time, The New York Times, and The London Times, with recent feature stories on her work in the San Francisco Chronicle and the Washington Post, and she has appeared on such shows as Today, Good Morning America, NPR’s Morning Edition, and 20/20. Her bestselling book Mindset (published by Random House) has been widely acclaimed and has been translated into 20 languages. Quick Hits: Ø Her Stanford University profile Ø A 3-minute interview with Carol Dweck on The Growth Mindset by Sal Khan of Khan Academy Ø A 10-minute TED talk on Developing a Growth Mindset by Carol Dweck Ø The cover story from the Stanford Alumni Journal presents a nice overview of Carol and her work. “The Effort Effect” Ø A short news article on Carol in the UK’s SchoolsWeek Ø Carol and her graduate students developed this free, online program called PERT (https://www.perts.net/), which provides platforms to deliver and evaluate mindset interventions online. 3 Her groundbreaking book, Mindset. 4 Abstract for Mindset After decades of research, world-renowned Stanford University psychologist Carol S. Dweck, Ph.D., discovered a simple but groundbreaking idea: the power of mindset. In this brilliant book, she shows how success in school, work, sports, the arts, and almost every area of human endeavor can be dramatically influenced by how we think about our talents and abilities. People with a fixed mindset—those who believe that abilities are fixed—are less likely to flourish than those with agrowth mindset—those who believe that abilities can be developed. Mindset reveals how great parents, teachers, managers, and athletes can put this idea to use to foster outstanding accomplishment. Praise for Mindset “A good book is one whose advice you believe. A great book is one whose advice you follow. This is a book that can change your life, as its ideas have changed mine.”—Robert J. Sternberg, co-author of Teaching for Wisdom, Intelligence, Creativity, and Success “An essential read for parents, teachers [and] coaches . as well as for those who would like to increase their own feelings of success and fulfillment.”—Library Journal (starred review) “Everyone should read this book.”—Chip Heath and Dan Heath, authors of Made to Stick “One of the most influential books ever about motivation.”—Po Bronson, author of NurtureShock “If you manage people or are a parent (which is a form of managing people), drop everything and read Mindset.”—Guy Kawasaki, author of The Art of the Start 2.0 5 SUMMARY OF CAROL DWECK’S INNOVATIVE THEORY AND APPLICATION OF A “GROWTH MINDSET” Carol Dweck’s research on lay theories of intelligence is revolutionizing education. It is helping to create better school environments and promoting learning and achievement for millions of children. In both scientific publications of the highest caliber (e.g., in Science), in her bestselling book, “Mindset: The New Psychology of Success,” and in high-profile (e.g., TED: https://www.ted.com/talks/carol_dweck_the_power_of_believing_that_you_can_improve) talks, Dr. Dweck explores a fundamental distinction. People can believe that intelligence is fixed—that you either have it or you do not. From this perspective, struggle and setbacks in school are a sign of inability, and students respond by withdrawing effort. But people can also believe that intelligence can grow—that with hard work, help from others, and good strategies you can get smarter tomorrow than you are today. With this “growth mindset,” challenges and setbacks are a sign that one has not mastered the material yet, and students respond by increasing their efforts or finding new ways to learn. Moreover, as Dr. Dweck and her collaborators have shown, a growth mindset can be taught and when this is done students’ performance arises. Moreover, the greatest benefits are often for the most struggling students—because it is for them that struggles in school can be most threatening. They are most likely to infer after a setback that they are “dumb” or “not good at math” and then withdraw. Following early theorizing (e.g., Dweck, 1986; Dweck, & Leggett, 1988) and laboratory experiments (e.g., Mueller & Dweck, 1998), Dr. Dweck and colleagues developed a 6-session workshop to teach a low-income, ethnic-minority group of middle school students a growth- mindset (Blackwell, Trzesniewski, & Dweck, 2007). Whereas students randomized to the control condition showed continued decline in their math scores, those who received the growth-mindset message showed a rebound in performance and higher final grades. Since this seminal study, growth-mindset interventions have caught fire. Brief online modules created by Dr. Dweck and her doctoral students that teach the growth mindset can reach tens-of-thousands of children and, when this was done, raised grades and successful course completion, especially among struggling students (Paunesku, Walton, Romero, Smith, Yeager, & Dweck, 2015). Such modules are now being scaled nationally in the United States, (http://mindsetscholarsnetwork.org/about- the-network/current-initatives/national-mindset-study/). Moreover, innovative schools and education networks are increasingly attuned to the importance of mindsets, and incorporating mindsets in their polices and recommendations. Dr. Dweck’s research represents the very best of research in education: A basic theoretical understanding of a critical factor that shapes students’ learning; the development of techniques to address this factor; and the development of means to scale these techniques across diverse populations to help millions of children achieve their potential. 6 CAROL DWECK’S RESEARCH Dr. Dweck shows in her research that an important determinant of whether students persist in the face of setbacks in school or withdraw their effort is their implicit theory of intelligence. Some students view intelligence as a fixed quality that a person either possesses or does not. Others view intelligence as a malleable quality that increases with effort and learning (Dweck, 1986; Dweck & Leggett, 1988). Students with a fixed view tend to perceive failure as evidence of their inability—that they cannot succeed. In response, they may curtail their effort and perform worse. But students with a growth view tend to perceive setbacks as evidence they have not mastered the material yet. In response, they may increase effort, seek out more effective learning strategies, and perform better over time. For example, Blackwell and colleagues (2007, Study 1) tracked students’ theories of intelligence as they entered